


The Seven Names of Elizabeth Swann

by Darnaguen



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Names, Pet Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-27
Updated: 2011-05-27
Packaged: 2017-10-19 20:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/204697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darnaguen/pseuds/Darnaguen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth reflects upon the seven names given to her in her lifetime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Seven Names of Elizabeth Swann

**Author's Note:**

> Written in September 2006.  
> I would be most grateful of any grammatical blunders pointed out, as English is not my first language.

~~~~

**  
_Elizabeth_   
**

Elizabeth was the first name given to the only daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann and his late wife Constance Mary, a good Biblical name for a well-behaved young Christian lady.  
Young Elizabeth, however, rather favoured the idea of being named after the legendary Queen of England who reigned during the time when the likes of Sir Francis Drake roamed the seas pillaging and plundering in Her Majesty's name.  
Elizabeth never got to know her mother for she had died of smallpox when Elizabeth had been only four years old, but she liked to think that Constance Mary Swann had been a free spirit and a believer in the equality of the sexes and in women being just as capable of taking control of their own lives as any man.

  
_**Anne** _

Very few knew of the second name given to Elizabeth, her middle name. In fact, she wasn't sure if even Will knew, if she had ever told him she actually was a namesake of another queen also: of the "Pirate Queen" Anne Bonney, one of the most loyal crew members of the infamous Calico Jack Rackham and possibly even more famous than her crew mate Mary Read.  
As a little girl obsessed with pirates, she took great pride in her middle name and dreamed of one day being like her larger-than-life namesake, roaming the high seas, fighting with a cutlass and a pistol alongside men, free to do whatever she wanted when- and wherever she wanted just because she wanted it.

**  
_Miss Swann_   
**

Miss Swann, who she became to most people in her vicinity around the same time as her mother passed away, was her third and quite possibly most hated name.  
Miss Swann she was to the servants of the Governor's mansion, Miss Swann she was to the townspeople of Port Royal, Miss Swann she was to Will Turner for eight years, despite her frustrated attempts to make him call her Elizabeth.  
Miss Swann she was never to him. Perhaps mockingly but never truly, and even though she tried to appear irritated with his lack of propriety, underneath she was glad and even grateful that someone treated her as her, not as prim and proper Miss Swann.

  
_**Love**_

_"Sticks and stones, love,"_ he had laughed in her infuriated face, dark eyes twinkling with wicked amusement, only minutes after their very first, watery encounter.  
It was a word that very often casually rolled out of his mouth when he spoke to her, just like words like _darlin'_ and _dearie_ and even _pet_. Sure, he undoubtedly addressed every female creature with those idly flirtatious little words, and she reckoned calling women "love" was to him the equivalent of the word "mate" he used of males.  
Nevertheless, it was somehow his prerogative to call her that, and even though the word was used by almost every single British sailor and lower-class man of British descent in general across the world, she always associated it with him. Thus she half-consciously adopted it as her fourth name.

 

There was no fifth name, really, unless you counted _"Hey you!"_ or _"You there!"_ as names.  
Aboard the _Edinburgh Trader_ she had no name. She hadn't needed to come up with one because no one had asked. It was a very liberating feeling somehow, she thought, to be just a nobody for a while. Just some young sailor lad or cabin boy no one paid much attention to. Not interesting enough to bother to ask him his name.  
To her it was freedom that made her heart beat faster, made her laugh out loud and spread her arms wide for a second, letting the warm winds of the Caribbean night caress her face while sitting alone in the top rigging after successfully tricking the crew into sailing to Tortuga.

  
**Lizzie**

_"You know, Lizzie..."_ She ought to be indignant at his all too free use of the pet form of her name, a lady would be.  
But after all, could she really call herself a lady any longer? Sailing with pirates, dressed in men's clothing, wielding a cutlass at her hip and - yes - accepting the bottle of rum offered to her by a notorious pirate captain and taking a hearty swig of it without as much as a grimace. Nay, she is not a lady.  
She decides Lizzie quite suits her, accepting it as her sixth name with the same ease as she accepts the bottle of rum.  
And moments later when she is more intoxicated with his nearness than she is with the rum and once again drowning into those dark, dark eyes, she vaguely considers if she should one day tell him her second name.

  
**Pirate**

It's not an accusation, not really. More like a triumphant taunt and an ultimate expression of pride, admiration and affection. The highest praise he can give her.  
Her seventh name echoes in her head maddeningly, burning her soul just like that _look_ he gave her, the look she will never forget.  
It sears a fiery 'P' into her soul and into her heart, marking her forever as surely as it would mark her were the scarlet letter burned into her right wrist, like it was burned into his.  
And would she, given a chance, give her everything; sail to the very ends of the earth and beyond, to hear him say her name - any of them - again?  
Yes, she decides. Oh _yes_ , she would.

~Fin


End file.
